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International Investment Agreements (IIAs)

International Investment Agreements (IIAs)

What is an IIA?

An IIA (also commonly called "bilateral investment treaty ("BIT") when used in a bilateral context, or "investment guarantee agreement ("IGA")) promotes greater investment flows between two signatory countries and sets out standards of protection for investments made in one country by investors from the other country.

An IIA contains obligations on the host State, which may include:

Treating foreign investors as favourably as domestic investors or foreign investors from other countries;

Treating foreign investors fairly and equitably, as well as giving them protection and security;

Establishing clear limits on the expropriation of investments and compensating foreign investors should expropriation occur;

Allowing foreign investors to freely transfer their capital in and out of the host State; and

Allowing foreign investors to submit investment disputes to international arbitration.

The table below provides details on Singapore's IIAs which are already in force (orange areas in the map below).

Singapore has signed agreements with Colombia, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Rwanda (green areas in the map above), but these agreements are not yet in force. You may write in to MTI (mti_email@mti.gov.sg) if you have enquiries about these agreements.

Investment Chapters in FTAs generally go beyond the scope of BITs/IGAs and include other elements such as investment liberalisation and investment facilitation.

This separate table lists Singapore's FTA Investment Chapters. You may also access the other chapters of these FTAs via Singapore's FTA Website.